IND Concourse Line (mtamaster edition)
The Concourse Line is an IND rapid transit line of the New York City Subway system. It runs from Gun Hill Road station in Baychester, Bronx to 145th Street in Harlem, Manhattan. It is one of the two B Division lines in the Bronx, the other being the Throgs Neck line. They are both also the only fully underground lines in the Bronx. Description and service The Concourse Line runs north to south through the Bronx and portions of Harlem, parallel to the mostly-elevated IRT Jerome Avenue Line which lies between two and four blocks to the west for its entire length in the Bronx. It begins as a two-track line at Gun Hill Road (also known as Baychester-Gun Hill Road or Eastchester-Gun Hill Roads). From there, it runs east to west under Burke Avenue until Norwood – 205th Street. The line then runs underneath East 205th Street, then under private property, then for a short portion under Van Cortland Avenue. As it travels west, a center track forms which leads to the Concourse Yard. The line then curves south at Mosholu Parkway to the Grand Concourse, from which it derives its name, at 206th Street. Two tracks from the Concourse Yard arrive between the two revenue tracks with switches and diamond crossovers between all four of them before the yard tracks merge to form the center track at Bedford Park Boulevard. South of this station, the two outer tracks depress into a lower level and merge into a single center express track, while the center track splits to become the local tracks. The line then runs south with diamond crossovers at Tremont Avenue. Due to the terrain, the vicinity of 174th–175th Street station is uniquely built both underground and over 175th Street. Between 170th Street and 167th Street are more switches and crossovers, with a lay-up track adjacent to the Manhattan-bound local track. The line curves west before 161st Street – Yankee Stadium and crosses the Harlem River into Manhattan via the Concourse Tunnel. There is one more stop, 155th Street, before the line curves south and joins the IND Eighth Avenue Line at the lower level of 145th Street. History The IND Concourse Line, also referred to as the Bronx−Concourse Line, was one of the original lines of the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND). The line running from Bedford Park Boulevard to the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan was approved by the city Board of Transportation on March 10, 1925, with the connection between the two lines approved on March 24, 1927. The line was originally intended to be four tracks, rather than three tracks, to Bedford Park Boulevard. This is the only IND line with three tracks (all other IND lines have either two or four tracks). The Concourse line's lower level of the 145th Street station was originally provisioned for four tracks, with the current tracks lining up with those of the upper level. Construction of the line began in July 1928. It was originally planned to end the line just past the Bedford Park Boulevard station, with a provision for an eastern extension. An alternate approach to the 205th Street station was proposed in February 1929, extending the line across private property onto Perry Avenue. The current routing was selected by June 1929. The building of the line and proposed extensions to central and eastern Bronx led to real estate booms in the area. The Concourse Line to Bedford Park Boulevard opened on July 1, 1933, less than ten months after the IND's first line, the IND Eighth Avenue Line, opened for service. The extension to Eastchester-Gun Hill Roads opened on July 1, 1937. Initial service was provided by the C''' train, at that time an express train, between Eastchester Road, then via the Concourse, Eighth Avenue, Cranberry Street Tunnel and the IND South Brooklyn Lines (now Culver Line) to Bergen Street. The '''CC provided local service between Bedford Park Boulevard and Hudson Terminal (now World Trade Center). On December 15, 1940, with the opening of the IND Sixth Avenue Line, the D''' train began serving the IND Concourse Line along with the '''C and CC. It made express stops in peak during rush hours and Saturdays and local stops at all other times. C''' express service was discontinued in 1949-51, but the '''C designation was reinstated in 1985 when double letters used to indicate local service was discontinued. During this time, the D''' made local stops along the Concourse Line at all times except rush hours, when the '''C ran local to Bedford Park Boulevard. On March 1, 1998, the B''' train replaced the '''C as the local on the Concourse Line, with the C moving to the Washington Heights portion of the Eighth Avenue Line. Except for minor maintenance work and a station rehabilitation at 161st Street – Yankee Stadium, stations on the Concourse Line have largely been untouched since its opening in 1933, except for entrance closings and other reductions in service areas. Expansion Proposals The Concourse line is mostly straight north of 161st Street – Yankee Stadium and makes a slight right turn north of Bedford Park Boulevard to end at Eastchester Road, with a provision to extend farther east. The original IND Second System Plan in 1929 proposed extending the line to Baychester Avenue via Burke Avenue and Boston Road and to Eastchester Road using only Burke Avenue. Plans were to make the express trains serve Baychester Avenue with the local serving Eastchester Road. The extension, called "Route 106", was proposed to run elevated over Bronx Park in the lower-deck of a viaduct connecting 205th Street and Burke Avenue. The Second System plans had multiple IND lines criss-crossing the five boroughs; however, the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, and the city had neither the money nor the need to either add the Baychester Avenue branch or make the line four tracks. An extension of the Baychester Avenue branch was planned in the 1930s with an extension along Burke Avenue to the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, running north along the railroad to Dyre Avenue. Construction work for the extension along Burke Avenue took place in the mid-1930s. The city, however, found it easier and less expensive to purchase the railroad (now the IRT Dyre Avenue Line) and connect it with the IRT White Plains Road Line, which made the extension redundant. In the 1960s and 1970s under the city's Program for Action, it was proposed to extend the line to Pelham Bay Park to Connect with the IRT Pelham Line. Financial troubles also caused the plan to be aborted.